SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE 6 Member Team

IMPORTANT NOTE

Please thoroughly read the General CDE Rules Section at the beginning of this handbook for complete

rules and procedures that are relevant to State FFA Career Development Events.

I. PURPOSE

To encourage students to learn to effectively participate in a business meeting and to assist in

the development of their leadership skills.

II. OBJECTIVES

A. Demonstrate parliamentary procedure and conduct an orderly and efficient meeting.

B. Present logical, realistic, and convincing discussion.

III. EVENT RULES

A. The event will have three phases: (1) written examination, (2) a 11:00 minute team presentation of parliamentary procedure, and (3) oral questions for five minutes following the presentation.

B. The advisor shall not consult with the team after beginning the event. Also, advisors will not be allowed in the holding room or on stage during event.

C. Minus 50 points if not in official dress. D. Overtime: Point deducted (over 11:00 minutes, 2 points/per second).

The official timekeeper will hold up a card or use an electric clock for time, signaling a nine-minute warning to each team.

E. Deductions for parliamentary mistakes range from 5 to 20 points per mistake. Omitting a required motion is a 100-point deduction.

F. NEW! Any participant in possession of an electronic device in the event area is subject to disqualification.

IV. EVENT FORMAT

A. Team Make-Up

1. Teams are made up of six participants from grades 8-12.

2. *Members may NOT participate in both Senior Parliamentary Procedure and

Junior Parliamentary procedure contests.

B. Equipment

1. Teams will need to provide their own gavel.

C. Event Schedule

Each team shall complete the event in the time allotted:

1. Written Test — 30 minutes

2. Presentation — 11:00 minutes

3. Oral Questions — 5 minutes

D. Written Test (100 Points)

1. The test will consist of 25 objective-type, multiple-choice questions (4 points each)

covering basic parliamentary law as related to the permissible motions of the event

and pertaining to minutes.

2. Thirty minutes will be allowed to complete the test.

3. Written questions will come from concepts from the chart of permissible motions.

4. Each participant may score a maximum of 100 points.

5. The average score of the top six-team members will be used to compute the total

team score.

6. Any communications between participants from the same team during the written

examination portion of the event will be sufficient cause to eliminate the team from

the event.

7. Any participant caught cheating during the event will be, along with his/her team

members, expelled from the event.

D. Oral Questions (120 Points)

1. All six team members will be asked a planned, written question relating to their

assigned motion.

2. Oral questions will come from the Chart of Permissible Motions. One question to

each member with a required term (20 pts. per question). One with a required

chairman. The Oral Question for the Chairman will come from Parliamentary Made

Easy, by Shane Dunbar, page 17, “Duties of the President”.

3. Total possible questions = 6

E. Presentation (580 Points)

1. The event official and judges will select two subsidiary, two incidental, and one

privileged or unclassified motion from the list of permissible motions. These five

selected motions will be randomly assigned to five team members (one per

member). All teams will be assigned the same five motions.

2. Upon entering the presentation room and taking their seats, the participants will

have one minute to review the main motion and the required motions to be

demonstrated (which may be noted by bolding, underlining, or an asterisk).

3. The team demonstrating shall assume that a regular chapter meeting is in

progress and new business is being handled on the agenda. The chair shall start

the presentation by saying, “Is there any new business?” Time will stop when the

chair declares the meeting adjourned.

• Original main Motion: The event official will assign the main motion on the

index card, no other original main motions may be used that are not on the

event card. Making other original main motions that are not on the event

card will result in a 50 point deduction from overall team presentation.

4. The assigned original main motion is to be the first item of business presented,

unless, take from the table, reconsider or rescind are required on the event

card.

If this is the case, an alternative main motion for take from the table, reconsider

or rescind will be provided.

5. The person who makes the assigned main motion will be given credit for an

additional motion.

SECONDARY OR ADDITIONAL MOTIONS

1. Each member is required to perform one additional subsidiary, incidental or

privileged motion in addition to the required motion on the card.

2. No limit to the number of subsidiary, incidental, or privileged motions a team

may demonstrate.

3. A member’s required motion will not be counted as an additional motion for

another member. No motion may count for an additional motion for more

than one member.

4. Only one additional motion correctly performed will count for a member’s 20

points.

5. If the officials in charge designate “rescind, reconsider, or take from the table”

as a motion to be demonstrated, you could assume that you would rescind,

reconsider, or take from the table a motion that you did at your last meeting.

Example: “I move to rescind the motion that passed at our last meeting about

having an FFA hayride.” These motions should not be used unless designated

by the official in charge has a scenario included on the event card.

6. An alternate motion not pertaining to the main motion may be used to

facilitate the correct demonstration of the motion, “Call for the orders of the

day,” should that privileged motion be designated as one to be demonstrated

by the officials in charge.

7. All members must demonstrate their required motions. Deductions for

parliamentary mistakes on a required motion can range from 5 to 20 points per

mistake. Omitting a required motion is a 100-point deduction from the total

team score and a 20-point deduction from the member’s individual score even

if another member on the team demonstrates that required motion. Additional

motions (other than those required) should be logically used throughout the

presentation and should affect the flow of the meeting.

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

Each team will address a local chapter item of business, which would normally be a part of a chapter’s program of activities. The motion will be specific and must be moved as an original motion as it is written on the event card.

1. Growing Leaders 2. Building Communities 3. Strengthening Agriculture 4. State FFA Convention Items of Business

GUIDELINES FOR SCORING DISCUSSION Judges scoring discussion during the parliamentary procedure event

should follow these guidelines:

1. Judges must overlook personal opinions and beliefs and score discussion in an unbiased manner.

2. Characteristics of effective discussion include

(a) completeness of thought (b) logical reasoning (c) clear statement of speaker’s position (d) conviction of delivery (e) concise and effective statement of discussion.

3. Each time a participant in the presentation discusses any motion, he/she may earn a score. However, an individual may never earn more than 80 points in a given presentation. Furthermore, no more than 40 points may be earned during one recognition by the chair. An individual earning 20 points on each discussion would need to be recognized by the chair four separate times to earn the maximum 80 points.

4. Scoring Discussion: (a) Excellent – 31-40 points (b) Good – 21-30 points

(c) Average – 11-20 points (d) Poor – 1-10 points Most discussion will fall in the range of 11-20 points. Excellent discussion

would be extremely unusual and would be characterized by a truly stirring delivery and brilliant in terms of information provided and/or suggestions of action offered. Good discussion would be characterized by a presentation that includes a high

quality of delivery and all of these components: (a) states position clearly (b) provides more than one reason supporting their position (c) tells delegation how to vote Average discussion would be characterized by a presentation that lacks in the quality of delivery and includes the following components: (a) states position (b) provides one reason supporting their position (c) tells delegation how to vote Poor discussion would be characterized by a lack of effective delivery, poor grammar, reasoning and substance. As well as, the omission of one or more components of an effective debate.

GUIDELINES FOR SCORING THE CHAIR 1. Ability to preside—handling motions, keeping members informed, using

gavel, distributing discussion

2. Leadership—stage presence, poise, self-confidence, politeness, and voice (80 points).

V. SCORING

A. Written Test…………………………………….………………….100 - The six scores will be totaled and averaged for team score.

B. Required Terms (5 terms)……………………………………….100

- 20 points/member - 2 Subsidiary - 2 Incidental - 1 Privileged or unclassified

C. Additional Motion………………..………………………………..100 - 20 points/member

D. Discussion………………………………………………………………400 - Top five members’ scores will be transferred to final score sheet. - Maximum of 80 points each per member - Note: Team’s ability to handle Main Motion

E. Chairman………………………………………………………….……..80

- Ability to Preside F. Oral Questions…………………………………………………………120

- 20 points per member. Question can be broken into to two or more parts. Will deal strictly with their required motion and the chart of permissible motions.

General Effect………………………………………………………………….100 Team’s voice, poise, and expression

Total Points ………………………………………………………………. 1,000

VI. REFERENCES

• Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 11th Edition. Henry M. Robert III, William J.

Evans, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch. www.robertsrules.com

• Videos of National FFA Contests and Resources;

https://www.ffa.org/participate/ldes/parliamentary-procedure

• Parliamentary Procedure Basics, CIMC, AG430317, 2017.

• Parliamentary Made Easy, by Shane Dunbar. www.northwest.net/parli-pro

• Official FFA Manual, National FFA Organization, Latest Version, 2017.

VII. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS AND FORMS

Chart of Motions Exam Sample Sample Card for Presentation Team Score Sheet

Chart of Permissible Motions for the National FFA Parliamentary Career Development Event

Motion Second

Required Debatable Amendable Vote

Required Reconsider

Privileged Motions

Fix the Time to Which to Adjourn Yes No Yes Majority Yes

Adjourn Yes No No Majority No

Recess Yes No Yes Majority No

Raise a Question of Privilege No No No Chair Grants No

Call for Orders of the Day No No No No vote, demand No

Subsidiary Motions

Lay on the Table Yes No No Majority Neg. only (3)

Previous Question Yes No No 2/3 Yes

Limit or Extend Limits of Debate Yes No Yes 2/3 Yes

Postpone to a Certain Time (or Definitely)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Majority

Yes

Commit or Refer Yes Yes Yes Majority Yes

Amend Yes Yes (1) Yes Majority Yes

Postpone Indefinitely Yes Yes No Majority Affirm. Only

Main Motion Yes Yes Yes Majority Yes

Incidental Motions

Appeal Yes Yes (1) No Majority Yes

Division of the Assembly No No No No vote, demand No

Division of a Question Yes No Yes Majority No

Objection to the Consideration of a Question

No

No

No

2/3 Neg.

Neg. Only

Parliamentary Inquiry No No No Chair answers No

Point of Order No No No Normally no vote Chair Rules

No

Request for Information No No No No vote. Chair responds

No

Suspend the Rules Yes No No (2) No

Withdraw a Motion No (3) No No Majority (3) Neg. Only

Motions that Bring a Question Again Before the Assembly

Reconsider (4) Yes Yes (1) No Majority No

Rescind (4) Yes Yes Yes Maj. with notice, or

maj. of membership (3) Neg. Only

Take from the Table (4) Yes No No Majority No

(1) If applied to a debatable motion

(2) Rules of Order - _ vote, standing rules - majority vote

(3) Refer to Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th edition) for rule(s)

(4) These motions shall not be used unless listed on the event card as a

required motion. See: E. Presentation, rule #2 on Oklahoma Sr.

Parliamentary Procedure CDE guidelines.

State FFA Parliamentary Procedure Examination

Sample Exam – 100 Points Possible NAME CHAPTER SCORE

DIRECTIONS: Read each question carefully and place the one, best answer in the blank to the left of each question

number. Be certain to answer all 25 questions, @ 4 points each.

1. The privileged motion to Fix the Time at Which to Adjourn:

A. requires a two-thirds vote to pass.

B. is not debatable.

C. does not require a second.

D. cannot be amended as to the date.

2. A motion to Adjourn at or to a future time while business is pending at an FFA chapter meeting:

A. may be proposed any time after a recess.

B. should be completed prior to debate on the pending motion.

C. is permissible if the chair permits it.

D. is always out of order.

3. A Recess may be taken to:

A. count ballots.

B. secure information.

C. allow for informal consultation.

D. all of the above.

4. The motion to Raise a Question of Privilege takes precedence over all the motions below

except the motion to:

A. amend.

B. commit.

C. limit debate.

D. recess.

5. Which rule below is false regarding the privileged motion to Call for the Orders of the Day?

A. A single member may call for the orders of the day.

B. It is debatable.

C. It is not amendable.

D It takes precedence over the motion to amend.

6. A tie vote on the motion to Appeal from the Decision of the Chair:

A. sustains the decision of the chair.

B. means that the decision of the chair is reversed.

C. automatically means a Division of the House will be taken.

D. means that more debate will be allowed.

CHAIR #3

MAIN MOTION: I move that our chapter conduct an activity to encourage 100%

membership.

REQUIRED MOTIONS:

Question of Privilege

Suspend the Rules

Division of Assembly

Limit Debate Amend

YOU MUST PERFORM THE REQUIRED MOTION THAT IS UNDERLINED & IN BOLD.

Oklahoma FFA Senior Parliamentary Procedure

Team Score Sheet

Chapter:

Contestants

5 Required Motions

20 pts./member

5 Additional Motions

20 pts./member

Discussion

Top 5 Scores count

40 pts. max./item

80 pts. max./member

5 Questions to Members

with Required Terms

Plus Chairman

20 pts. max./member

Maximum Total

Member #1

(140)

Member #2

(140)

Member #3

(140)

Member #4

(140)

Member #5

(140)

Chairman

(20)

Tiebreakers: a. Average score on

written test

b. Total questions score

Chairman’s Ability to Preside (80 pts. max.) (80)

General Effects:

1. Conclusion

2. Degree to which discussion was convincing, logical, realistic,

orderly, and efficient.

3. Team voice, poise, and expression.

(100)

Written Test Average/Average Top 6 Scores (100)

Deductions: 1.

2.

3.

Parliamentary mistakes, 5-20 pts. per mistake;

Omitting a required motion, 100 pts.

Penalty will start at 11:00.

2 pts. per second over 11:00.

Minus 50 pts. if not in official dress.

TOTAL POINTS (1,000 pts. max.)